iPhone 5 Will Not Solve Our Problems

Nero fiddles while Rome burns! I cannot help but think of this phrase today.

The Labor Day weekend was awesome, with good weather and good friends. I am sure many interesting conversations about the economy, the upcoming elections and what can we expect as summer draws to a close were had around BBQ pits around the world.

The mainstream media and the press in the United States have been obsessed with the Republican shindig last week, and now the focus is on the Democratic convention. I cannot turn on a news channel without being plastered with the convention events.

Then, I move to the Internet and I see the hoopla about the event Apple is going to hold Sept. 12. People are falling over themselves with excitement over the possibility of the new iPhone 5 or whatever it might be called.

What is incredible is that no one is talking about the prices of gold and silver. Gold is up over 5.4 percent in the past month and silver is up by a whopping 16 percent during the same period.

Instead, we are focused on politicians giving stump speeches. A politician on the campaign trail or at a convention is most likely to extend the truth and be very short on any details of how he or she will fix the mess we are in.

Instead, we are focused on the latest gadget that Apple will release and how we can blow another $500 on yet another Apple toy that we could easily live without. Despite all the success that Apple has had (mind you, I have nothing but admiration for Apple products), we will not escape another recession if we do not do something about the real problems that ail America.

Instead, we focus on the possibility that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke might announce a third round of quantitative easing or some form of easing and cheap money so that we can have the stock market rally and the U.S. dollar get destroyed even more.

There are only two things that I can infer from this: either the masses just don’t care about the problems in America or the politicians and media just don’t want to face the truth and report the hard facts. I suspect it is the latter, since over 12 million (or 25 million, depending on whom you believe) people who are out of work and cannot provide three meals to their family can’t be the ones who do not care about the economy.

But back to the soaring gold and silver prices.

On June 26, July 11 and Aug. 22, I recommended that you start buying into gold and silver. Gold has gone up by 11 percent, 7 percent and 2 percent, respectively, since those recommendations. Silver has an even better record than does gold for the same periods.

The biggest challenges that dog America today is the lack of growth, the lack of growth prospects and the lack of any real attempts by the politicians (of any stripes) to rein in spending.

Folks, I caution you to not get caught up in the hype of politics. It does not matter whether the Democrats win or the Republican win the White House. No real reform will be forthcoming. Each party has reasons for not wanting to swallow the bitter pill and bring about true and long-lasting reforms. Each one will kick the can down the proverbial line and steal from our kids’ futures.

If you have not yet started buying gold and silver, do not let the $1,700 per ounce and $32 per ounce price, respectively, scare you. The rally is nowhere near done yet.

As long as the politicians refuse to really change, we will continue to see gold and silver climb.